Origin

The earliest acrobats were tightrope walkers, which explains why the word derives from Greek akrobatos, meaning ‘walking on tiptoe’. The akro- part of akrobatos meant ‘tip, end, or summit’ and is found in several other English words. The acropolis (mid 17th century) of a Greek city, most famously Athens, was the fortified part, which was usually built on a hill. Acrophobia (late 19th century) is fear of heights. An acronym (mid 20th century) is a word such as laser or Aids formed from the initial letters of other words, and an acrostic (late 16th century) is a poem or puzzle in which the first letters in each line form a word or words.